Endpoint repeater functionality selection

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are apparatus and methodology for improving communications among battery operated network endpoints and a central facility. A battery operated endpoint may determine its remaining battery capacity and decide whether it is able to provide message repeating services to other endpoints within the network. The endpoint may make such decision based also on its own communications reliability to a central facility either directly or via other endpoints operating as repeaters.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/275,863, filed on Oct. 18, 2011, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE SUBJECT MATTER

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to battery operated devices.More specifically, the presently disclosed subject matter relates tomethods and apparatus for implementing selective operation of batteryoperated utility endpoint devices as repeaters.

BACKGROUND OF THE SUBJECT MATTER

Utility metrology devices including electricity, water, gas, and oilmeters generally are often respectively combined with or associated withan endpoint device. Such endpoint devices may provide variousfunctionalities such as data collection and storage, servicedisconnection capabilities, and various communications capabilitiesincluding radio frequency (RF) transmission and/or receptioncapabilities. Such RF capabilities may be employed for communicationswith a central facility for data upload purposes, that is, for reportingof utility consumption information, as well as data reception purposesfor updating operating systems or parameters associated with endpointoperation including data collection associated parameters.

In many instances, endpoint devices and their associated utilityconsumption measurement associated devices are organized into a networkconfiguration. Mesh type networks are a known example of an arrangementfor some of such networks. In such an exemplary network configuration,information may be transmitted from one device to another as suchinformation is directed generally to or from an individual endpointdevice in relation to a central facility. In some instances, individualendpoints may be configured to operate as a repeater to conveyinformation (such as data) to and/or from another endpoint that may notbe able to directly communicate with the central facility or othercentral collection device, or which endpoint for any other reason isotherwise operated so as to not communicate directly with the centralfacility or other central collection device.

Certain operational issues may arise based on the different types ofendpoint in consideration of the types of power supplies available tothe endpoint. In some instances, electricity meters may draw power fromthe same power lines being monitored for power consumption. In suchinstances, power is available except during power outages. Other utilityconsumption meter and endpoint combinations, however, may only havebattery power available for their operation during normally expectedoperating conditions. In some instances, water, gas, and oil meters aremore likely than electricity meters to be operated from battery powerduring their so-called “normal” operation.

Further complicating RF communications in some environments is thecommon practice of installing endpoints in wells or pits, in otherwords, underground. Such installations tend to inherently reduce therange achievable between associated communicating devices, whethertransmitter, receiver, or transceiver. In currently known efforts toaddress such limitations on transmission range, various repeater andantenna configurations have been previously provided. In some instances,one below ground endpoint may function as a repeater to relayinformation from another such below ground endpoint that may be “out ofrange” of an area collector, concentrator device, or a central facility.In addition, or in the alternative, above ground antennae have beenpreviously provided to improve communications capabilities forunderground installations.

While various implementations of endpoint operating systems andmethodologies have been developed, no design has emerged that generallyencompasses all of the desired power advantages as hereafter presentedin accordance with the presently disclosed technology.

SUMMARY OF THE SUBJECT MATTER

In view of the recognized features encountered in the prior art andaddressed by the presently disclosed subject matter, methodology forimproving communications among battery operated network endpoints and acentral facility has been provided. According to some embodiments ofsuch methodology, a network of endpoint devices may be establishedwherein at least some of such endpoints are configured to operate asrepeaters. Such endpoints having battery capacity sufficient to supportrepeating messages, transmit a signal to other endpoints to indicatethat capacity. Using such methodology, messages may be relayed fromendpoints not otherwise able to be heard at the central facility.

One issue arising from the use of below ground endpoints operating asrepeaters, especially when such endpoints draw their operating powerfrom battery power supplies, is the additional drain imposed on thelimited power resources provided from the battery. It would beadvantageous, therefore, to provide a mechanism where additional drainon the endpoint battery supplies may be minimized to maximize batterylife.

In certain embodiments, transmission of a signal indicating availabilityto repeat messages may be permitted based on the reliability of theendpoint's communication path to the central facility. In some presentlydisclosed exemplary embodiments, the transmitted signal may correspondto a discovery bit.

In other embodiments, the endpoint may be associated with a measurementdevice whereby the endpoint may transmit measurement data to the centralfacility. In selected embodiments, the measurement device may be aconsumption measurement device and in some of such embodiments maycorrespond to one of a water, gas, and oil meter.

The presently disclosed subject matter in some embodiments also relatesto a network including a central facility and a plurality of endpoints.In such exemplary embodiments, the endpoints are battery powered andhave communications capability for communicating with a centralfacility. In some such embodiments, selected of the endpoints may beoperated as repeaters which indicate such repeater functionalitycapability to other endpoints only after determining that they havesufficient battery capacity to support repeating messages from otherendpoints. In other present embodiments, indication of repeatercapability functionality is given based on the reliability of theendpoint's communication path to a central facility. In selectedembodiments, endpoints operating as a repeater advise other endpoints ofsuch functionality capability by transmitting what may be referred to asa discovery bit.

In particular embodiments, endpoints may be associated with measurementdevices whereby the endpoint may transmit measurement data to a centralfacility. In selected such embodiments, the measurement device maycomprise a consumption measurement device, which in some embodiments maycorrespond to or be associated with at least one of a water, gas, andoil meter.

Additional embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter are setforth in, or will be apparent to, those of ordinary skill in the artfrom the detailed description herein. Also, it should be furtherappreciated that modifications and variations to the specificallyillustrated, referred and discussed features, elements, and steps hereofmay be practiced in various embodiments and uses of the presentlydisclosed subject matter without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe subject matter. Variations may include, but are not limited to,substitution of equivalent means, features, or steps for thoseillustrated, referenced, or discussed, and the functional, operational,or positional reversal of various parts, features, steps, or the like.

Still further, it is to be understood that different embodiments, aswell as different presently disclosed embodiments, of the presentlydisclosed subject matter may include various combinations orconfigurations of presently disclosed features, steps, or elements, ortheir equivalents (including combinations of features, parts, or stepsor configurations thereof not expressly shown in the figures or statedin the detailed description of such figures). Additional embodiments ofthe presently disclosed subject matter, not necessarily expressed in thesummarized section, may include and incorporate various combinations ofaspects of features, components, or steps referenced in the summarizedobjects above, and/or other features, components, or steps as otherwisediscussed in this application. Those of ordinary skill in the art willbetter appreciate the features and aspects of such embodiments, andothers, upon review of the remainder of the specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full and enabling disclosure of the presently disclosed subjectmatter, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinaryskill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makesreference to the appended figures, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary portion of an exemplary networkemploying a plurality of endpoint devices at least some of which areconfigured to function as repeaters in accordance with presentlydisclosed subject matter;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an endpoint device and associatedmetrology components as may be employed with the presently disclosedsubject matter;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating operational components of anexemplary endpoint and associated metrology components in accordancewith the presently disclosed subject matter; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method of operation inaccordance with the presently disclosed subject matter.

Repeat use of reference characters throughout the present specificationand appended drawings is intended to represent same or analogousfeatures, elements, or steps of the presently disclosed technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SUBJECT MATTER

As discussed in the Summary section, the presently disclosed subjectmatter is particularly concerned with battery operated devices. Morespecifically, the presently disclosed subject matter relates to methodsand apparatus for implementing selective operation of battery operatedutility endpoint devices as repeaters.

Selected combinations of aspects of the disclosed technology correspondto a plurality of different embodiments of the presently disclosedsubject matter. It should be noted that each of the exemplaryembodiments presented and discussed herein should not insinuatelimitations of the presently disclosed subject matter. Features or stepsillustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used incombination with aspects of another embodiment to yield yet furtherembodiments. Additionally, certain features may be interchanged withsimilar devices or features not expressly mentioned which perform thesame or similar function.

Reference is made hereafter in detail to the presently disclosedembodiments of the subject repeater functionality including batteryoperated endpoint configurations. Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1illustrates an exemplary portion of an exemplary network generally 100employing a plurality of exemplary/representative endpoints 110, 112,114, 116, 118, 120 at least some of which are (or may be) configured tofunction as repeaters. In an exemplary configuration as illustrated inFIG. 1, each of the endpoints 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120 may beoperated as a repeater so that, in the case of endpoint 112, suchendpoint may function as a repeater for endpoints 110 and 116 asindicated by the double arrow lines between these endpoints. In othersituations, an endpoint may be able to communicate directly with acentral facility 140 as illustrated by double arrow lines 136, 138between antenna 142 of central facility 140 and endpoints 116, 118,respectively. Additional details regarding certain uses of endpoints asrepeaters is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,024,724,assigned to the assignee for the presently disclosed subject matter, andthe complete disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein byreference, for all purposes.

In the following discussion, the term “endpoint” may be used as asingular designation to represent a combination of components includinga component configured to communicate by way of radio frequency (RF)transmissions together with consumption measurement components. The RFcommunicating component may generally be referred to as a transceiver.Generally also such consumption measuring device may correspond to awater meter but could also include one or more measurement devices forthe measurement of consumption or production of other commoditiesincluding without limitation, gas and oil. Further, the transceiver maybe configured to provide communications between the endpoint and acentral facility as well as between other endpoints. The term “endpoint”is intended to encompass variations of the foregoing as will beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art from the completecontext hereof.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, it will be noticed that each of theendpoints 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120 is configured to communicate byRF transmissions as illustrated by representative double-headed arrowlines 130, 132, 134, 136, 138. In general, each of the endpoints 110,112, 114, 116, 118, 120 may communicate with any other endpoint withinits transmission range and may also communicate with a central facility140 by way of its communications equipment represented generally byantenna 142. Antenna 142 may correspond to a relatively tall towerstructure positioned to provide coverage for a large area covering, forexample, up to 100,000 consumer locations. In some instances, multiple,additional local communications facilities similar in arrangement (notseparately illustrated) to central facility 140 may be provided within,for example, specific areas or neighborhoods to relay informationbetween endpoints and a single central facility. Such communications maybe conducted by way of RF transmissions or other communicationtechnologies including, such as, coaxial cable, optical cable, dedicatedtelephone lines, wireless cellular service, or any other suitablecommunications currently existing or pursuant to yet to be developedmethodologies.

FIG. 2 shows that each of the endpoints 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120illustrated in FIG. 1 may correspond to an endpoint 200 that includesmultiple elements. In the particular instance that a given endpoint 200corresponds to a water meter, such endpoint 200 may be housed in anenclosure that is at least partially under ground as more generallyillustrated/represented in FIG. 1. With continued reference to FIG. 2, awater meter 210 having an input water line 220 and an output water line222 may have associated therewith a controller 230 and a transceiver240. Transceiver 240 may have coupled thereto an antenna 242 by way of acable 244. Antenna 242 may be positioned within the undergroundenclosure along with the other endpoint components or may be positionedabove ground (not specifically illustrated herein). The position of theantenna may be decided based on a number of considerations, suchconsiderations and, in fact, the final selected location and/or type ofthe antenna, is not a specific limitation of the presently disclosedsubject matter.

With reference to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a block diagram generally300 illustrating operational components of an endpoint and associatedmetrology components in accordance with the presently disclosed subjectmatter. It will be noticed that identification numbers corresponding tocomponents already described with reference to FIG. 2 bear the samereference number in FIG. 3 save for the 300 series designation.

Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 3, representative endpoint generally 300includes a consumption measurement portion 310 with input and outputportions 320, 322, respectively. As previously noted, such arrangementmay be in some instances a water meter with input and output waterlines. In alternate embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that consumption measurement portion 310 and its associatedinput and output lines 320, 322 may also provide measurement andhandling of liquid gas, oil, natural gas, and in some instanceselectricity. It should further be appreciated that the use of the word“consumption” herein may more generally be used to specify “flow” ordelivery of a utility. Alternatively, the measurement may apply to anamount or rate of utility being produced by a source (e.g., an oil orgas well) and not just an amount being consumed in the sense of being“used” by a consumer.

With continued reference to FIG. 3, a signal may be generated byconsumption measurement portion 310 and passed to a processor 330 by wayof representative signal line signal line 332. Controller 330 maycorrespond to a microprocessor, computer, or other device that receivesand in some instances stores information from consumption measurementportion 310. Such information may be stored in an associated memoryportion 334 that may correspond to a portion of controller 330 or maycorrespond to a separate memory device or combinations thereof. Memoryportion 334 or a sub-portion thereof, may also be used to storeoperational instructions relating to the operation of the consumptionmeasurement portion 310, the controller 330, and/or transceiver 340. Forexample, instructions stored in memory portion 334 may relate to timesand types of data collection, billing and/or rate information, and/orinformation related to the operation of transceiver 340.

Transceiver 340 may receive instructions by way of communications line336 and may also forward information by the same communications line 336or an alternate line communication to controller 330 as may be receivedfrom, for example, a central network facility. Transceiver 340 maytransmit and/or receive RF communications signals by way of antenna 342and cable 344 coupling transceiver 340 with antenna 342.

Finally, it will be noticed that a battery operated power supply 350 hasbeen provided that may supply operating power to one or more of theconsumption measurement portion 310, controller 330, and transceiver340. In accordance with the presently disclosed subject matter, care istaken to minimize consumption of battery supply 350. More particularly,care is taken, in particular in those instances where endpoint 300operates as a repeater device, to avoid the use of a limited number, orjust one, of such repeating endpoint device. In such manner, additionalload requirements placed on endpoints 300 operating as repeaters may beshared among a larger number of such devices, to thereby share theadditional burden among a number of endpoints.

In an exemplary configuration, if the overall system “load levels” forrepeater usage per presently disclosed subject matter is based on, forexample, among other considerations, remaining battery capacity, therepeater functionality can be shared among a relatively larger number ofendpoints 300, thus requiring only minimum increase in the batterycapacity in each of the overall fleet of endpoints 300. Since batterycost is one of the most significant costs of each endpoint, the systemcosts can be minimized as the workload is spread over more repeaters.

In addition, the endpoints that are selected as the group of endpointsthat will share the repeater load also will be those found to have avery reliable communications path. With higher reliabilitycommunications paths, endpoints in general and more particularly alsothose endpoints operating as repeaters can reduce the frequency of theirtransmitted messages so as to minimize battery usage as well. Suchreduction in traffic also reduces RF collisions, thus improvingreliability of communications and contributes to overall systemperformance as well as extended battery usage.

In an exemplary embodiment, an endpoint 300 having battery capacityabove a predetermined level and having a sufficient quality of serviceconnection to at least another upstream endpoint or directly to acentral facility may make such facts known to surrounding endpoints. Asis known to those of ordinary skill in the art, endpoints operating innetwork environments generally transmit a header associated withsubstantially all transmitted signals. Such headers include not onlyidentification information and at least some routing information such asa next-hop address, but also discovery information. In accordance withthe presently disclosed subject matter, endpoints may transmit a signalincluding the endpoint's discovery bit as an indicator to otherendpoints that it is willing to accept and forward messages providedsuch endpoint has enough battery capacity to offer such repeaterfunctionality service to surrounding other endpoints. In such manner,the selection of an endpoint as a repeater for other endpoints can bebased on proximity to an unheard endpoint, as well as batteryavailability of the selected repeater endpoint.

Additional benefits are also derived by such operation as inherentlyendpoints operating as repeaters will have very reliable communicationspaths and can thus reduce the frequency of their communications whichcan have a significant impact on the overall system performance andbattery usage.

With reference to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a flow chart 400 of anexemplary method of operation in accordance with the presently disclosedsubject matter. Generally, at least selected endpoints are associatedwith a measurement device, as previously described. Thus, at step 402such endpoints may collect measurement data for later transmission.

In accordance with the presently disclosed subject matter, selected ofthe endpoints, including those capable of operation as a repeater, mayevaluate their upstream links at step 404 to assess their own ability tocommunicate in a reliable manner.

Endpoints may also evaluate at step 406 their respective batterycapacity to determine whether there is sufficient capacity for theadditional operation of the endpoint as a repeater for data from otherendpoints. In the illustrated exemplary embodiment, if sufficientbattery capacity is available and if the endpoint has sufficientlyreliable uplink capability, endpoints capable of operating as a repeatermay then transmit a signal at step 408 to indicate such capability toother endpoints. In preferred embodiments, the signal transmitted instep 408 includes a discovery bit.

If endpoints receiving such transmitted signal of indication of repeatercapability determined that they are in need of such signal repeating,the offering endpoint may then relay messages at step 410 for thoseendpoints requiring such services.

Sufficiency of battery capacity may be decided in some instances basedon determination of battery capacity above a predetermined level whileindividual upstream communications reliability may be determined in someinstances based on a number of different criteria including, withoutlimitation, quality of service evaluation, number of hops to the centralfacility, and level of traffic already being repeated by the endpoint.

While the presently disclosed subject matter has been described indetail with respect to specific embodiments thereof, it will beappreciated that those skilled in the art, upon attaining anunderstanding of the foregoing, may readily produce alterations to,variations of, and equivalents to such embodiments. Accordingly, thescope of the present disclosure is by way of example rather than by wayof limitation, and the subject disclosure does not preclude inclusion ofsuch modifications, variations, and/or additions to the presentlydisclosed subject matter as would be readily apparent to one of ordinaryskill in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A repeater endpoint in a network of endpointshaving metering functionality, the repeater endpoint comprising: aprocessor; a memory in communication with the processor; a transceiverconfigured to send and receive messages between the processor and anetwork; and a battery configured to supply power to the processor andthe transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to: evaluate arepeater availability of the repeater endpoint, wherein the repeateravailability comprises communication reliability and battery capacity,wherein the communication reliability includes determining having asufficient quality of service connection from the repeater endpoint toout-of-range endpoints or a central facility on the network, and whereinthe battery capacity of the repeater endpoint includes determininghaving a capacity above a predetermined level; transmit signals via thetransceiver, the signals intended for the out-of-range endpoints andconfigured with preambles having a discovery bit to indicate to theout-of-range endpoints availability of repeater functionality at therepeater endpoint sufficient to support repeating messages from theout-of-range endpoints based on the evaluating of the repeateravailability of the repeater endpoint; receive one or more messages atthe repeater endpoint from the out-of-range endpoints that require therepeater functionality to be heard at the central facility; and relaythe one or more received messages, wherein the relaying is performed bythe repeater endpoint and other repeater endpoints having repeateravailability in a shared manner, wherein the shared manner distributesworkload over at least two repeater endpoints having repeateravailability to prevent any single endpoint of the repeater endpointsfrom performing the entire relaying required by the out-of-rangeendpoints.
 2. The repeater endpoint of claim 1, further comprising: ameasurement device in communication with the processor and with powersupplied by the battery.
 3. The repeater endpoint of claim 2, whereinthe measurement device comprises a consumption measurement device. 4.The repeater endpoint of claim 3, wherein the consumption measurementdevice comprises a water, gas, or oil meter.
 5. The repeater endpoint ofclaim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to: collectmeasurement data from the measurement device.
 6. The repeater endpointof claim 5, wherein the collected measurement data is consumptionmeasurement data.
 7. The repeater endpoint of claim 5, wherein thecollected measurement data describes at least one of water, gas, or oilconsumption.
 8. The repeater endpoint of claim 5, wherein the processoris further configured to: transmit the collected measurement data to thecentral facility.
 9. The repeater endpoint of claim 1, wherein theevaluating comprises evaluating links of the repeater endpoint in thenetwork to other endpoints upstream in the network.
 10. The repeaterendpoint of claim 1, wherein the evaluating comprises evaluatingupstream links of the repeater endpoint in the network and determiningif the battery capacity of the repeater endpoint in the network issufficient to share the repeater load.
 11. One or more non-transitorycomputer readable media storing instructions that, when executed by oneor more processors of a repeater endpoint in a network of endpointshaving metering functionality, perform acts comprising: evaluating arepeater availability of the repeater endpoint, wherein the repeateravailability comprises communication reliability and battery capacity,wherein the communication reliability includes determining having asufficient quality of service connection from the repeater endpoint toout-of-range endpoints or a central facility on the network, and whereinthe battery capacity of the repeater endpoint includes determininghaving a capacity above a predetermined level; transmitting signalsintended for the out-of-range endpoints and configured with preambleshaving a discovery bit to indicate to the out-of-range endpointsavailability of repeater functionality at the repeater endpointsufficient to support repeating messages from the out-of-range endpointsbased on the evaluating of the repeater availability of the repeaterendpoint; receiving one or more messages at the repeater endpoint fromthe out-of-range endpoints that require the repeater functionality to beheard at the central facility; and relaying the one or more receivedmessages, wherein the relaying is performed by the repeater endpoint andother repeater endpoints having repeater availability in a sharedmanner, wherein the shared manner distributes workload over at least tworepeater endpoints having repeater availability to prevent any singleendpoint of the repeater endpoints from performing the entire relayingrequired by the out-of-range endpoints.
 12. The one or more computerreadable media of claim 11, wherein the acts further include: collectingmeasurement data via a measurement device of the repeater endpoint. 13.The one or more computer readable media of claim 12, wherein thecollected measurement data is consumption measurement data.
 14. The oneor more computer readable media of claim 12, wherein the collectedmeasurement data describes at least one of water, gas, or oilconsumption.
 15. The one or more computer readable media of claim 12,wherein the acts further include: transmitting the collected measurementdata to the central facility.
 16. The one or more computer readablemedia of claim 11, wherein the evaluating comprises evaluating links ofthe repeater endpoint in the network to other endpoints upstream in thenetwork.
 17. The one or more computer readable media of claim 11,wherein the evaluating comprises evaluating upstream links of therepeater endpoint in the network and determining if the battery capacityof the repeater endpoint in the network is sufficient to share therepeater load.